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21 Feb 2011

Gay Islamic cleric spreads message: ''Homosexuality is not sinful''

South African Muhsin Hendricks, who is an openly gay Islamic cleric, runs a foundation called The Inner Circle which helps Muslims who are struggling to accept their sexuality.

Radio Netherlands Worldwide reports:

South African Muhsin Hendricks is an Islamic cleric and a gay man.

Muhsin Hendricks (left), who is no longer officially a cleric, in an interview in a scene from A Jihad for Love, a documentary that depicts gay and lesbian Muslims waging jihad – inner struggle – to reconcile their faith and sexual identity.

He runs a foundation called The Inner Circle, which helps Muslims, who are struggling to accept their sexuality. He has come to the Netherlands to spread a simple message: “It’s okay to be Muslim and gay!”

It’s a message not everyone agrees with and the reason why Mr Hendricks is no longer officially a cleric.

Muhsin Hendricks looks a little tired. He is in the Netherlands at the invitation of the Amsterdam branch of gay rights organisation COC and he’s on a punishing schedule. There is enormous public interest in the “pink imam”, as he’s been dubbed.

Sin

But every trace of fatigue vanishes as Mushin Hendricks talks about his faith and his sexuality.

“Being Muslim and being gay are both strong identities. And I think that they are both innate identities for me. So somewhere along the line I had to reconcile the two.”

This was far from easy for Muhsin Hendricks. He was born into an orthodox Muslim family in South Africa. His grandfather was a cleric in one of Cape Town’s most prominent mosques. Mushin discovered at an early age that he was different. He played with dolls rather than cars. He was seen as being feminine and was teased as a result. All this was long before he even knew there was such a thing as homosexuality.

Mushin Hendricks took comfort in his faith, in spite of the fact that many Muslims believe it offers no place to homosexual feelings. Sexual love between two men or two women is prohibited. It is seen as one of the worst possible sins, punishable in some Islamic countries by death.

Sodom and Gomorrah

But Muhsin Hendricks decided to discover for himself what the Qur’an has to say about homosexuality. He pursued his Islamic studies in Pakistan. “It didn’t seem fair for a very merciful and compassionate God to condemn me for something that I didn’t choose.” 

Muhsin Hendricks drew a striking conclusion from his studies: nowhere does the Qur’an state that homosexuality is forbidden. Not even in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Mushin refutes the interpretation that God destroyed the cities because men had sex with one another. He argues that the cities’ residents were punished for rape, not for consensual sex between men.

Full article on Radio Netherlands Worldwide.


Muhsin Hendricks discusses homosexuality and Islam with 
Maulana A K Hoosen, an Islamic Scholar, in Parvez Sharma's
A Jihad for Love.

Reader's Comments

1. 2011-02-22 02:01  
I just do not understand the need for religion. I don't get it. It is so cultural. If you are born in Pakistan you are Muslim, America - Christian, India - Hindu. I can see no advantage in it. Religious people still get cancer, become homeless, suffer and no religion really explains the Universe. The only benefit they get is that they are not vilified by their own neighbors for not believing the same as everyone else. Religion divides the world, divides families, and causes unrest in countries. So now this poor man clings to his religion even though nearly everyone who practices it rejects him and many would cheerfully kill him. It seems to me that it causes him more pain than life without religion would.
2. 2011-02-22 02:09  
I totally agreed with you Capitan.
3. 2011-02-22 09:06  
I am sure religion does help one to seek solace and to be at peace with oneself. I agree with both of you somewhat in some degree.

I am not a religious person. I think if God is present and so perfect in so many people's eyes , then he should create all of us in such a way that we will live together peacefully and harmoniously.

But look at the world today ? Anyway religion is a controversial subject. Let's not even go into it. For us gays , I think we should just live our lives the way we want the mainstream to accept us. We are just like anyone else out there , just that our sexual orientation and preference are different. Cheers !
4. 2011-02-22 10:33  
I'm not sure how he managed to reconcile homosexuality and Islam. Frankly, since he's no longer a cleric, I'd argue that he hasn't really reconciled anything. He just chose one over the other. I'm sure my own sexuality played at least a part of my eventual rejection of Christianity (and all organized religion). I'm now a happy agnostic.

www.godisimaginary.com

Great opening comment, #1. I agree with you as well. Religion causes far more problems than it solves.
Comment edited on 2011-02-22 10:35:07
5. 2011-02-22 11:07  
Capitan... He has no choice but to cling to his religion. The childhood indoctrination of children by Islam is so deep and so effective that the fear of god is with them for the rest of their lives
Comment #6 was deleted by its author on 2011-02-22 17:07
7. 2011-02-22 17:29  
I see religion as a means to an end, not an end in itself. I agree that "religion causes far more problems than it solves," chadm252@4, because religions have been hijacked by those in charge to advance a certain social propaganda that has nothing to do with the source of all good from which, I believe, they all spring.
Comment edited on 2011-02-24 09:44:05
8. 2011-02-22 20:19  
I agree with Capitan 110%. 1 VOTE for him as PM of Malaysia! Oh but there are race and religion factors that will prevent him as a legit candidate even if he were to be citizen here.

Come and live in Malaysia, and you'll see why Islam is killing a secular and multi-cultural society that was once beautiful- some 50 years ago.

Today, our land is all about marginalisation, segregation, extremism, fanaticism, racism, sexism and bigotry. It's so vulgar that even Allah can smell the stench. Where's the GOD in this?
9. 2011-02-22 21:25  
Its kinda interesting. Hmm would love to read more articles about his interpretation
10. 2011-02-23 06:59  
It's very shallow of angry gay people to throw stones at Islam and gay Muslims. We gay Catholics cop a lot of it too. You may think you have all the answers as a bitter/well adjusted/ self satisfied agnostic or atheist, but all I ask is , have a little consideration for people who want to rescue what is best from their own faith and traditions. They know that to throw out what you have been brought up with, is liable to be damaging to the personality. Most gay Muslims will never deny that they are Muslim, so they may as well listen to this man the pink Imam for some insights.

If some of you weren't so focussed on dicks and pectorals and vanity mirrors, you might have a chance to read widely about religion, particularly the intelligent dialogues between Fr Felix Coppleston SJ a Jesuit priest, and Bertrand Russell, the aristocratic atheist and academic. These dialogues took place long before the internet ...which might be one reason of itself to have a look at them! The age of common sense and non sensationalism, do you remember it or have you heard of it?

Who will care for people less fortunate at any period in history? What will happen to you when your body sags and your money runs out? (When you are old , noone really cares if you were gay and hot in your prime, you are just another wrinkly) Where will you get help in civil disaster? Probably not from governments or atheist associations. More likely from someone with religious sentiments.
God Bless You, whoever you are and whether or not you accept His blessing.
11. 2011-02-23 13:27  
Wether you're affiliated with a staunch religious practice or not, it's only about religion that creates a segregation for the gay community
...I fervently hope to let this film enlighten or affect people from all walks of life regardless of race, political belief, religion and personal biases...more power to people who bravely battle social storms!
Let us look at life intelligently and sensitively just what a human being should do!
12. 2011-02-23 13:41  
I have met Muhsin Hendricks, and he is a gentle sincere man. He has managed to bring healing and self-respect to muslim gay people in Cape town and South Africa.

All power to him!
13. 2011-02-24 03:59  
No religion is religion. Isn't it? It simply a belief. Let those who find peace in whatever they believe, JUST DO IT. Those who do not have religion, be it.

I do not have religion but I do support anyone who thinks his/her religion helps her/him in whatever ways.

Be careful, Wihtout religion can divide people too. When you against religions, you are dividing people from logical point of view. Isn't it?

Some people eat rice, some don't. Some suck and fuck, some don't need. Be it. There are good people with and without religion. Take a close look, you will find PEACE.
14. 2011-02-24 14:02  
Religion is not the problem - it's the people that force their religious beliefs on others that's the problem. Believe what you want, and please allow me to do the same. The devil is known by two other names - hate and discrimination. My god also has two other names - love and respect. You get what you give
15. 2011-02-25 10:29  
16. 2011-02-25 10:30  
Religion is the problem.

"Every one of the world's "great" religions utterly trivializes the immensity and beauty of the cosmos. Books like the Bible and the Koran get almost every significant fact about us and our world wrong. Every scientific domain -- from cosmology to psychology to economics -- has superseded and surpassed the wisdom of Scripture.

Everything of value that people get from religion can be had more honestly, without presuming anything on insufficient evidence. The rest is self-deception, set to music."

"When considering the truth of a proposition, one is either engaged in an honest appraisal of the evidence and logical arguments, or one isn't. Religion is one area of our lives where people imagine that some other standard of intellectual integrity applies."
— Sam Harris
17. 2011-02-25 14:13  
Religion became the problem when it (i.e. those in charge of it) failed to practice humility, let alone "turn the other cheek."

When religions started to discriminate, hate, kill, amass power, wealth and influence, religious differences and conflicts began to compound and have become entrenched and insurmountable.

The hope for peace began with religion but is sadly ending with it, unless a miracle happens.
Comment edited on 2011-02-25 14:16:16
18. 2011-02-26 22:17  
I have read about gay Christian priests, met gay Budddhist monk, now I am seeing for myself a self confessed gay Muslim imam. See? Being gay does not come from race, colour or religion at all..it covers all human on earth..it is in the human genes..no preaching needed. Insyaallah, Praise the gays, May gays live meritorously well...
Comment #19 was deleted by its author on 2011-03-04 02:13
20. 2011-03-04 02:13  
Gay islamic cleric??? Sorry but i don't buy that. Not when followers are bashing OTHER gays in broad daylight!!!!

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